Carolyn, on her birthday, looked at her life’s accumulation. “My present to myself,” she said, “is to unburden myself of as much as I can live without.” She sold what she could and tossed the rest. She nestled into her car with a blanket and smiled. She felt lighter.
For a while.

Six months later she ditched her phone and car. She shaved her head. She stopped working.

Within a week she burned the last of her clothes.

Then she could bear the burden no more. Stretching back her neck, Carolyn reached inside her chest and pulled out her heart.